🚨 Mission 08: Publish Your Agent
🎯 Mission Brief
Your Contoso IT Concierge has knowledge, tools, skills, and a workflow, but employees can only use it after you publish it to a channel. In this mission, you'll move the agent from the Copilot Studio authoring experience into the apps where employees already work.
You'll publish the agent to Teams + Microsoft 365, configure the listing employees see before adding it, and make it available in Microsoft 365 Copilot. Finally, you'll install and test the published agent in both Teams and Microsoft 365 Copilot to confirm that it behaves as expected outside the Copilot Studio preview.
Publishing is more than making the agent visible. The name, description, icon, and developer details help employees understand what the agent does and whether it fits their task. Channel configuration determines where they can discover and use it, while organization policies may affect availability and approval.
The final tests are equally important. Authentication, knowledge access, tools, and workflows can behave differently when invoked through a live channel instead of the authoring preview. You'll verify the employee-facing experience in each destination and confirm that grounded troubleshooting still works after deployment. This gives you a release baseline for future updates: revise the agent, publish a new version, and validate the channels again.
🔎 Objectives
In this mission, you'll learn:
- How publishing channels make an agent available outside Copilot Studio
- How to configure an agent's listing and Teams settings
- How to publish an agent to Teams and Microsoft 365 Copilot
- How to install and test a published agent in both channels
📡 Publishing and channels
Publishing creates a version of your agent that users can access through enabled channels. Each channel connects the agent to a destination, such as a website, custom web app, Teams, or Microsoft 365 Copilot.
Publishing and sharing are related, but they are not the same. Publishing makes the latest version available to a channel. Your organization's sharing and admin policies determine who can discover, install, or use it. When you update the agent later, publish it again so users receive the newest version.
Publishing to Teams or Microsoft 365 Copilot changes where employees access the agent; it doesn't change the agent's harness. The Contoso IT Concierge agent remains powered by the GitHub Copilot harness in each channel.
IMPORTANT
Test the agent after publishing. A successful preview in Copilot Studio doesn't guarantee that authentication, knowledge, tools, and workflows will behave identically in every channel.
🧪 Lab 08 - Publish your agent
In this lab, you'll configure the Teams + Microsoft 365 channel, publish the agent, and verify the employee experience in both destinations.
Prerequisites
- Contoso IT Concierge agent - the agent created in Mission 07 - Automate with Workflows.
8.1 Publish the agent
Select the arrow next to the Publish button.
Review the available publishing options. Because this agent provides internal support and troubleshooting, you'll deploy it to Teams and Microsoft 365.
Select Teams + Microsoft 365, then select Make agent available in Microsoft 365 Copilot.
Select Save and publish.
Confirm that the green Channel enabled message appears, then select Edit details to configure the agent listing.
Replace the Short description with the following text:
textResolve IT issues, find devices, and submit requests for approval.
Replace the Long description with the following text:
textContoso IT Concierge helps employees resolve common technical issues and request workplace devices. It uses approved Contoso and Microsoft knowledge sources to provide concise, step-by-step troubleshooting, relevant support links, and safe next steps. If an issue remains unresolved, it suggests additional troubleshooting paths, recommends escalation, and prepares a clear ticket summary. For device requests, the agent checks current options in SharePoint, helps employees select an available device, gathers requirements such as RAM and storage, and sends the request to the employee's manager for approval. The agent is limited to approved IT help desk scenarios. It will not ask for passwords or one-time passcodes, help bypass security controls, or invent guidance it cannot verify.
Under Teams settings, select Users can add this agent to a team and Use this agent for group and meeting chats.
Expand More.
Replace the Developer name with the following text:
textContoso IT
Select Save to apply the listing changes.
Select the back arrow to return to the Teams + Microsoft 365 channel page.
Select Save and publish to publish the updated listing.
8.2 Test the agent in Teams
After publishing finishes, select the See agent in Teams text.
Review the short and long descriptions displayed in the agent listing.
Scroll to Details and confirm that Created by displays Contoso IT.
Select Add.
After the agent is added successfully, select Open.
Enter the following troubleshooting request and submit it to the agent:
textI get an access denied when trying to open this file in SharePointConfirm that the agent asks a focused follow-up question and provides safe troubleshooting steps.
8.3 Test the agent in Microsoft 365 Copilot
Return to the Teams + Microsoft 365 channel page in Copilot Studio, then select See agent in Microsoft 365.
Confirm that the Teams test appears in the agent's activity history, then enter the following troubleshooting request:
textMy laptop keeps freezing up and crashing
Confirm that the agent provides troubleshooting guidance grounded in its approved knowledge sources and asks for details to narrow down the issue.
✅ Mission Complete
Mission accomplished, Recruit! You moved the Contoso IT Concierge from the authoring environment into the apps where employees work.
You can now:
✅ Configure channels: Make an agent available in Teams and Microsoft 365 Copilot
✅ Create an agent listing: Add clear descriptions, Teams settings, and developer information
✅ Publish updates: Release the latest agent configuration to enabled channels
✅ Validate the employee experience: Install and test the published agent in Teams and Microsoft 365 Copilot
⏭️ Move to Understanding Licensing to learn how GitHub Copilot harness usage is billed and managed.